The Sky Tonight

November 11, 2014

European Spacecraft Set to Harpoon a Comet Tomorrow
Pasadena CA (JPL) Nov 12, 2014
Early tomorrow morning, the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft will deploy its comet lander, "Philae." A little over seven hours later (8 a.m. PST/11 a.m. EST), the experiment-laden, harpoon-firing Philae is scheduled to touch down on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It will be the first time in history that a spacecraft has attempted a soft landing on a comet. Rosetta is an international mission led by the European Space Agency (ESA), with instruments provided by its member ... read more

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A close-up with a comet Even as Tom Economou approached retirement age in 1994, he began planning an instrument for the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission to a comet. He still remembers the reaction of Riccardo Levi-S ... more		Final checks for first-ever comet landing Scientists were going through a final systems checklist Tuesday for the first-ever landing on a comet, the culmination of a dream to explore the origins of the Solar System. ... more		'Target locked': Comet mission eyes Wednesday landing European scientists are gearing for the culmination of two decades' work and a 1.3-billion-euro ($1.6-billion) bet with the first-ever landing on a comet on Wednesday. ... more
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Joint team reveals asteroid's size for the first time When the double asteroid Patroclus-Menoetius passed directly in front of a star on the night of Oct. 20, a team of volunteer astronomers across the U.S. was waiting. Observing the event, known ... more		Tail discovered on long-known asteroid A two-person team of Carnegie's Scott Sheppard and Chadwick Trujillo of the Gemini Observatory has discovered a new active asteroid, called 62412, in the Solar System's main asteroid belt between Ma ... more		India signs $7 bn deal for 97 domestically made fighter jets France doubles down on threat to build future fighter jet alone US approves $1.2 bn missile sale to Germany		Rosetta: The dark side of the comet Rosetta's scientific imaging system OSIRIS has caught a glimpse of the southern side of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. During the past months, this side has continuously faced away from the Sun ma ... more
				NASA's TESS Mission Cleared for Next Development Phase NASA has officially confirmed the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission, clearing it to move forward into the development phase. This marks a significant step for the TESS mission, wh ... more		Astronomers dissect the aftermath of a Supernova In research published in the Astrophysical Journal, an Australian led team of astronomers has used radio telescopes in Australia and Chile to see inside the remains of a supernova. The superno ... more

Startup in the Land of the Rising Sun; A Japanese Solar Venture - by Bradley L. Bartz

UW Team's Plants Return To Earth After Growing In Space Researchers at Simon Gilroy's lab in the Department of Botany at the University of Wisconsin-Madison expect to greet a truck this afternoon that is carrying small containers holding more than 1,000 ... more		SwRI-led team telescope effort reveals asteroid's size for the first time When the double asteroid Patroclus-Menoetius passed directly in front of a star on the night of Oct. 20, a team of volunteer astronomers across the U.S. was waiting. Observing the event, known ... more		Simulations of Exoplanet Formation May Help Inform Search for Extraterrestrial Life Ancient hot springs reveal how microbes thrived before Earth gained oxygen Framework proposed to study planetary scale impact of life		Fireball streaks across Texas sky Residents of San Antonio saw a bright green light streak across the sky Saturday night, making it the possible site of a meteor. ... more
Maybe it wasn't the Higgs particle after all Last year CERN announced the finding of a new elementary particle, the Higgs particle. But maybe it wasn't the Higgs particle, maybe it just looks like it. And maybe it is not alone. Many calc ... more		Noise in a microwave amplifier is limited by quantum particles of heat As part of an international collaboration, scientists at Chalmers University of Technology have demonstrated how noise in a microwave amplifier is limited by self-heating at very low temperatures. ... more		New electron spin secrets revealed Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the University of Cambridge in the UK have demonstrated that it is possible to directly generate an electric current in ... more		Caltech rocket experiment finds surprising cosmic light Using an experiment carried into space on a NASA suborbital rocket, astronomers at Caltech and their colleagues have detected a diffuse cosmic glow that appears to represent more light than that pro ... more

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Birth of planets revealed in concentric rings of comets, asteroids and dust		CERN discovery could be Higgs, could be another particle		NASA Team Advances Next-Generation 3D-Imaging Lidar		Sustainability, astrobiology illuminate future of life in universe, civilization on Earth		Life Can Survive on Much Less Water Than You Might Think

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String field theory could be the foundation of quantum mechanics

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VLTI detects exozodiacal light

Hubble Sees a Galaxy on the Edge

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